How To Make Custom PCB's For Your Projects!

this video is sponsored by pcb way more on that later what's up everybody welcome back to another episode of modern hobbyist in this video i'm gonna be walking you through the process that i usually follow to create custom pcbs for all my projects whether you're making a one-time project like i often do and you just want to spice it up a little bit or you have a million dollar idea that you want to manufacture and give to the world i wanted to make this video to show you how easy it can be and to hopefully inspire some of you to go out and design pcbs of your own so make sure to smash that like button and subscribe and we'll get started [Music] so throughout the couple of years that i've been making projects for youtube i've used several different methods to create circuits for my projects in some cases i've simply used a breadboard and jumper wires to finish a project and in other cases i've used perfboard to manually solder all of the components together i've even routed my own copper circuit board blanks with my snapmaker cnc but that didn't turn out very well the last method that i often use which also happens to be my favorite would have to be ordering custom made pcbs from a professional manufacturer there are many different ways to create a circuit for your projects but the point is that they don't even have to be mutually exclusive in fact i generally like to build out my circuits using breadboard first just to make sure that everything's working as expected before ordering them from a professional company like pcbway i also want to mention that this video is not going to be an in-depth tutorial of eda software by any means for several reasons but most of which is that i am not an expert when it comes to electronics design but that's sort of the point of this video i wanted to show you that with a rudimentary knowledge of electronics pretty much anybody can create their own pcb alright that's enough of an intro you're probably sick of me talking this is what you're doing this is what i want you to do any questions so let's actually get started step one planning out your circuit with a pen and paper now i usually like to start out my new pcb design by drawing the circuit out with a pen and paper i personally like this method because it's fast it doesn't take any knowledge of schematic design software and you can iterate quickly this step usually helps me to iron out any concerns or questions i may have about my project and i can usually figure out most of the pin assignments for any microcontrollers i'm using which in turn allows me to get started writing the code now if your circuit is super complex with tons of resistors and capacitors and stuff drawing it out by hand could be way too tedious but it could still be helpful to create a rough sketch of the circuit just so you have something to reference later step two build out your circuit on a breadboard now assuming that you've got a good idea of what your circuit's going to look like i usually find it helpful to rough out the circuit using a breadboard this allows me to quickly get a proof of concept together so i can make sure the circuit is going to work the way that i want it to beyond that this step also allows me to create a sort of proof of concept for the code as well at this point i likely won't have the code perfected yet but i like to test out any major libraries or packages before i spend all that time designing the entire pcb step 3 create an electrical schematic now some of you might jump straight to this step and that's totally fine but depending on your skill level when it comes to electrical design software this step could be the most time consuming that's why i like to create a rough sketch of the circuit first then build a prototype or at least test out portions of the circuit and then convert it to an actual schematic doing things in this order has actually saved me several headaches but in the end the actual order of steps 2 and 3 is totally up to you but anyways to actually get started designing your schematic you'll need an eda software which stands for electrical design automation software there are several free options for this but one of the most popular is eagle which is made by autodesk there's also a sort of integrated version of eagle included in fusion 360 which is actually pretty handy if you already use fusion for your 3d modeling another popular option is keycad which also happens to be free but doesn't have quite as steep a learning curve as eagle both are great and powerful tools but keycad seems to be more suited for hobbyists or non-experts like me but whatever eda you choose the process will be roughly the same first you'll need to place all your electrical components in the schematic then connect all the lines between components now at this point you should have a complete circuit diagram with everything wired up correctly and you've hopefully tested it out on a breadboard so you should be ready for the next step step 4 converting your circuit diagram to a pcb layout this is in my opinion the most fun part because you get to start seeing your pcb actually come to life within the same eda software whether that's eagle or keycad or some alternative there will be a button to convert the circuit diagram to a pcb layout after clicking this button you'll arrive at a new screen where each of the components are visible but they haven't been placed in any particular spot or connected with routes yet this is the point where you get to place each component orient them the way you want define the board outline add mounting holes text logos and really anything you want to customize your board for your liking so now that you've got all the components placed where you want them you've checked all the routes between components and you've even added your little logo for fun you are ready to send this pcb off to be created step 5 export your pcb as gerber files within your eda software there will be an option to export the pcb as a gerber file which is basically a series of files that define each of the layers drill patterns images and any other important information about your circuit that companies like pcbway use to manufacture your pcb to get the gerber file your software of choice will most likely have an export option within the file menu which will create a zip file on your computer once you have that zip file you're ready to move on to step 6 which is where today's video sponsor pcb way comes in pcbway is a company that specializes in prototyping and small volume production and they offer services like 3d printing cnc machining sheet metal fabrication injection molding and of course what we're interested in pcb manufacturing so once you've completed step 5 and you have your gerber files you're going to want to navigate over to pcbway.com and click on pcb instant quote this tool will basically allow you to estimate the price for your pcb by entering the rough dimensions how many layers you want and how many boards you want to order there's a ton of different options to choose from on this page but in my experience the default settings are usually perfect the only thing i might change is the solder mask and maybe the silk screen colors but for the most part it's good to go now when you're ready for the next step you'll go ahead and click calculate and then add to cart at which point it will ask you to sign in or create an account once you've done that it will take you to your cart and then it will ask you to add your gerber files to your order if you don't happen to see the pop-up asking for the gerber files you can also click the add files button on the cart item and that will bring up the pop-up for you so after selecting your gerber files attaching them to your cart item and proceeding to checkout your pcb will get reviewed by an engineer and assuming the engineer doesn't find any problems with it it will go into production and show up at your front door within a couple of days and that's basically it you now pretty much know everything you need to in order to create custom pcbs for your next project i know this video didn't go into too much detail regarding the creation of the circuit diagram or actually laying components out on your pcb but i just wanted to cover the overall steps of this process to show you that you don't need an electrical engineering degree to at least get started making custom pcbs now obviously the complexity of your circuit will be limited by your knowledge of electronics but it only takes one pcb to get you hooked on designing them so don't be afraid to use what you learned here to just go out and make one i want to give a huge thanks to pcboa for sponsoring this video make sure to check out their website so you can pick up 10 pcbs for only 5. they also have an online community where you can browse projects from other people and upload projects of your own to share i've got a few projects on there myself so make sure to check them out at the link in the description below also let me know in the comments if i missed anything major in this video otherwise smash that like button smash that subscribe button and i'll see you guys in the next one [Music] step one plan out your circuit with a perf this to help usually [Music] you don't need and [Music] oh man [Music] you

Channel: Modern Hobbyist

Views: 67,190

Keywords: custom pcb, custom pcb diy, pcb, diy pcb, making your own pcb, making your own printed circuit board, custom circuit board, pcbway, diy circuit board, designing a pcb, professional pcb, professional circuit board, creating a pcb, jlcpcb, how to make a pcb, how to design a pcb, how to design a pcb for beginners, diy pcb board, pcbway pcb assembly, Diy custom pcb

Id: RfGuJ5nTeVw

Length: 9min 28sec (568 seconds)

Published: Wed May 25 2022